Ok, maybe I was too quick to jump to the conclusion when I wrote this title in my head last week. Things were looking good before Louis Vuitton announced they were hiring Pharrell as creative director of their menswear line. Another celebrity is taking a designer’s job. Another fashion house plays the influencer card without caring whether the person has a technical understanding of clothes. Elsa Schiaparelli asked Salvador Dalí almost 100 years ago to collaborate. But she never gave him her house and said: “Do what you like, people love you, and they’ll love the clothes, too.” I have nothing against Pharrell and am curious to see what he’ll do at LV, but with so many talented young menswear designers out there, this acquisition feels misgiving. But I digress.
After many years, New York Fashion Week put a smile on my face. Most designers, and by designers, I mean people with an educational background and work experience in fashion design, turned to real clothes this season. Clothes we can wear to work, a first date, parent’s meetings, or social events with friends. Not just, as Rachel Tashjian of Harper’s Bazaar put it, clickbait clothes.
Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough showed us that day midi dresses and maxi skirts can be exciting. Wes Gordon demonstrated that knowing how to work with fabric can turn a simple black dress into a masterpiece. Tory Burch stated that layers, bracelets, belts, and other details are just as individual as a fingerprint. They’re basically all about where you’re going, what you’re dealing with, and who you’re taking care of on a particular day. Even Demna announced that he’s dropping his shenanigans and is “back to making jackets.”
A viral runway moment is always fun to observe and analyze, but it’s not what the industry is about, nor what personal style is about. That one viral thing I bought will be old news by the time it arrives. I will showcase it in one Instagram pic, and that’s about it. A wonderfully cut blazer, on the other hand, is something I’ll wear for many years to come without it looking passé after one season.
Brands like The Row, Toteme, or Aspesi are so successful and sought after because they offer exactly that - real clothes with a bit of funk. That’s what great design is about. It’s not just about making things look pretty. It’s about incorporating function and aesthetics into a powerful statement that can make your eyes water and the hairs on your arms stand straight up. A brilliantly draped skirt can give me a dopamine rush. A perfect vintage dress with elaborated layers, each built in for a specific reason, can (and did) make me cry.
As the legendary Robin Givhan of the Washington Post wrote in her comment on the Pharrell acquisition, “fashion design is a skill and not merely an attitude.” And yet, the industry keeps exchanging craftsmanship for clickbait. This modus operandi brought us to a state where fashion isn’t exciting anymore, or as Givhan put it: “The shift has taken a bit of the magic out of fashion.”
Nevertheless, New York Fashion Week gave me a glimpse of hope, and if you stop and look closely, you’ll find some magic in every seam, too. London starts today. Let’s see what happens next.
*I do not own any of the photos in this newsletter, they belong to GoRunway.